Nothing is too simple

Meeting

Haruto is alone in the building at these early hours of the morning. He likes it this way as he can act as if he's the only person in the world - awake and alert at the start of a new day. It's also dark enough to be under the guise of shadows, except with the blue hue that will eventually color once the sun rises. It's peaceful and calm and it is in this moment that he likes to drink his first cup of coffee of the day. He wishes he'd step into the tiny break-room and be able to pour himself a scalding cup of coffee, but then it's the moment he remembers that there's no coffee and that the office secretary had attempted to remind him, several times, to purchase it. Of course he had let it slip out of his mind after leaving the office yesterday. As he had stayed too long inside his cubicle last night, making random phone calls on a particular court case he was working on.

He didn't graduate his law degree to start his career off with the idea he'd end up specializing in child advocacy issues, but he liked where he was because he actually loves his job, even if it means working his fingers to the bone. Even though it's twice the headaches, less money and gives him zero chances of becoming a millionaire, he got one corner of his life in near perfection. He can look at himself in the bathroom mirror and be proud about the number of kids he was able to protect.

His family also loved his work, but they would also love for him to finally settle down, buy a home and raise a family, but Haruto knows he's not remotely ready yet. He's unsure if he'll ever be ready to find a single person to spend the rest of his life with. He doubts he'll find “The One", his job doesn't allow him an ideal life with someone waiting at home - his lonely, still-empty apartment. He does fantasize about someone special, but he's a realist. He doesn't want to disappoint anyone and he's sure there isn't another man out there who can tolerate him every day. Some days Haruto can't even tolerate himself.

Leaving the office lights on, Haruto re-locks the front double doors of the Kanemoto, Takata & Associates Family Law Practice and he takes a leisurely stroll to the 24h grocer where he buys the office's favorite coffee and a sweet treats. He crosses the empty stretch of street to head toward a series of benches lining the tiny cobblestone park in the middle of downtown. He's thinking of not only going to enjoy his caffeine fix, but he's going to dig into a delicious pastry he will buy called a “breakfast blast”; that's like a cinnamon bun but covered in a unholy amount of sugar.

As Haruto nears the benches, he notices a familiar face occupying a spot beside the one he usually sits on. The elderly man is harmless and Haruto has always enjoyed conversations with older people as he values their advice and life lessons. He has two downfalls while being an authentic cutthroat lawyer... old folks and children. He's got too big of a bleeding heart for the defenseless and hopeless.

Every morning since he had started working at Yoshi's law practice, he has loved chatting a few minutes away with Min Ho, “Mino”, and is pretty impressed with the older man's sharp wit and attention to details of his past memories. Mino does look too young to be eighty-six, but the cane and the gnarled hands show differently. These moments are sometimes the brightest and happiest part of Haruto's day.

But today instead of going to have his coffee and chat with Mino, he keeps walking to extend his leisurely early morning stroll down to the one bookstore, a block down, that holds a coffee house. He's surprised the place is crowded for such a time of the morning, and he had been so close to it on a daily basis. He notices that the building is a rather enormous store front beyond the metal gate that keeps customers at bay from the books.

Where the coffee-house is there's racks of magazines, newspapers and a few random “sale” shelves of stacked books at bottom value prices. Some people peruse, but never buy; others seem to have bought and are now reading the material as they enjoy their morning jolt of caffeine and snack foods for breakfast. Haruto notices that several people have their laptops out, so there's got to be a Wi-Fi signal boosting from somewhere in the building.